It's You All Along

The Blind Date

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Steve asked Tony for the hundredth time as the billionaire twisted the car keys and the car engine stopped running.

Tony sighed, hoping he won't have to lecture Steve for another hour about this. "Steve. It's just a blind date. No big deal. If you don't like her, just don't ask for her number and you're good."

Steve straightened his coral blue tie and inhaled a nervous breath. "Okay. Here we go."

"Gimme a call half an hour before you need to be picked up. Good luck, buddy." Tony gave him a thumb up before starting his car back on and drove it away.

Steve wanted to find a date. Desperately. He wouldn't admit it verbally but truth be told he's grown tired and truthfully ashamed thanks to Natasha's relentless tease about finding him a date, Tony's occasional perverted brags about how to 'do' a woman, and Sam's life rant about being in short lived relationships. Having recently been invited to Barton family's Christmas dinner  made him realize that he still wanted that; stability, a person to go home to, a person to live for. For a moment he thought he didn't want it anymore but he realized that he still does.

It was one of those date-roulettes, where the women just sit at one same table the whole night while the men switch tables every five minutes. But if you really like the person and the person likes you, you get to stay at the same table as long as you want. Tony was the one who signed him up, Steve just wishes that he'll find someone who is patient enough to sit on the table and listen to a 97 year old virgin talk about his life.

He was on his 4th table tonight, listening to a quite attractive blonde lady with a thick New York accent talk about her love for Bratwurst, a topic which made him anxiously long to leave the premises until the bell dinged and it was time for them to switch to the next table. Steve practically bolted from his current seat to the table next to it, leaving the previous lady protesting indistinctly but he couldn't care less.

He straightened his tie and looked up, and was met with a pair of surprisingly familiar green eyes.

"Steve?"

"Natasha. Hey."

"What are you doing here?" He blurted. She looked as surprised as he is to see her here. In a way it's a relief, at least he knows firsthand that Natasha won't act remotely close to any of the four weirdos whom he had just spent his last twenty minutes with. While those other ladies were as undesirable as they come, Natasha is anything but. She's witty and respectable, grandeur and poised. Right now she looks ravishing as always; dressed in a tight-fitting black dress that shaped all of her curves perfectly, which is why Steve couldn't think of a reason why a person like her would go to a blind date like this.

"I'm wondering the same thing." She answered with a chuckle, then looked away, blushing. "This is so embarrassing. I tried so hard to keep you guys from finding out."

"I won't tell anyone." Steve smiled calmingly. He has always acknowledged the fact that she's really attractive ;even from day one he knew that, but, never would he ever, in normal circumstances be bold enough to actually ask her out. She's obviously far more experienced than him when it comes to relationships and he's always been sure she's not interested in him anyway. That's why she keeps trying to set him up with different people, right?

"Thanks, Steve." She returned his smile. "Look, I−" She leaned forward, suddenly feeling obligated to explain herself. She bit her lip and said quietly, "things have been... rough since Banner, you know....went  AWOL. I thought I- had my shot at relationships. That I could fix what is wrong with me. I guessed wrong."

Steve frowned. "Why would you think that there's anything wrong with you in the first place?"

"I don't do things like this. I−" she stopped, looking up at him with revelation in her eyes, pursing her lips together. "Wait, no. I don't want this to turn into a life-mourn session. Let's talk about you, Mr. Rogers. Why are you here?"